A sudden mid-race crash cost home race hero Álex Márquez the chance of podium finish for Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS in today's Grand Prix of Catalunya.

It was a disappointing outcome for Márquez who eventually finished 18th in the 23-lap race. Márquez's teammate Franco Morbidelli finished 11th.

Morbidelli's bid for a top ten finish was slowed by late race grip issues after the 21 year old Italian made a strong charge in the opening laps from a distant 18th on the grid.  

Morbidelli had crashed three times in Saturday practice and was determined to bring his bike home undamaged. He was disappointed not to capitalise on the pace which saw him second fastest in the morning warm-up session.

Morbidelli had moved to tenth on lap six before pacing himself to ensure a points scoring finish.

Meanwhile Márquez was within reach of a career first Moto2 podium when he inexplicably crashed at turn 10 having closed to within 0.8s of third placed Tom Lüthi.

Márquez had started seventh and was racing comfortably in fourth for eight laps before crashing on lap 12 and then remounting to finish a despondent 18th.

The race was run on a revised layout using the Formula One track configuration because of safety concerns following the tragic accident on Friday that claimed the life of Luis Salom.

Franco Morbidelli: 11th 
“I didn't go crazy in the first part of the race because I wanted to make sure I finished for the team after crashing three times on Saturday. But I made a mistake on lap one and this cost me the chance to go with the group for a top ten finish. With a new tyre I was comfortable and fast but then after some laps I felt big drop in grip and focussed on just getting the best result possible so I'm happy I did that. I am just ten points out of the top five in the championship which is my goal for the season.”

Álex Márquez: 18th 
“I had absolutely no warning of the crash, everything was perfect and then suddenly I was on the ground.  I think I made really good race and I felt confident on the bike but in the end it is like this.  We have a bike that is really fast and stable but we had this problem of no warning in the race, I had no feeling about the crash.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“In many ways this was disappointing race for us with Álex crashing out of fourth position on a day when it was possible for him to finish on the podium for the first time in Moto2. Another crash after a difficult start to the season was not an ideal outcome in his home race. For Franco we thought he could go with guys like Jonas Folger, who finished seventh, but we did not find a set-up that allowed Franco to manage the grip over the race distance. We need to find a solution for this.”